Comprehensive Kids' Online Safety Legislation (KOSA)

Blumenthal & Blackburn Introduce Comprehensive Kids' Online Safety Legislation

The introduction of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) follows bombshell reporting & a series of watershed bipartisan hearings revealing Big Tech’s repeated failures to protect children & teens from serious dangers on their platforms

Read more: https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-and-blackburn-introduce-comprehensive-kids-online-safety-legislation

Ask Me Anything: Cyberbullying Expert Sameer Hinduja

Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University and Co-Director of the Cyberbullying Research Center. He is recognized internationally for his groundbreaking work on the subjects of cyberbullying and safe social media use.

Ask Me Anything: Cyberbullying Expert Sameer Hinduja from ConnectSafely on Vimeo.

Social Media Is Sneaking Into Young Kids' Lives, Like It or Not

 

https://www.commonsense.org/

Social Media Is Sneaking Into Young Kids' Lives, Like It or Not

By Jeff Knutson Senior Content Strategist, Education

It's never too early to give kids the skills they'll need to navigate our social media-infused world. We might try to stop it, but pop culture always finds a way into kids' lives. And pop culture today is social media—mainly TikTok. Here's a true story: The other day, driving my third grader home from school, I was surprised to overhear him humming a song from a popular TikTok video I'd seen. It was a specific song with a very specific four-letter word in it. To be clear, my son does not have a TikTok account. Did he overhear it somewhere? Or maybe a friend's older sibling showed it to him. Did he somehow see it cross-posted on YouTube? I asked him, of course, but you know how that goes. 🤷 I get it, that's just how these things work. Like the "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" song or any other joke or urban myth—despite our best efforts, they seem to get passed around the playground, handed down from older kid to younger kid, on and on, in perpetuity. But it also shows how TikTok is pretty much everywhere these days. Like it or not, TikTok's meme-like videos, songs, and dances aren't just part of youth culture, they basically are youth culture—for both older and younger kids. Sure, there's some decent and entertaining stuff there, but there's also lots of very problematic content. Not to mention an algorithm fine-tuned to keep users entranced and hungry for more.   Kids, even young ones, are curious about social media. This is why it's important for teachers—at all grade levels—to address it. Whether it's TikTok today, or some other platform five years from now, you'll give your students a firm footing to stand on when they encounter life's digital dilemmas (and they will encounter them).  Below, you'll find a handful of lessons you can use to spark kids' critical thinking about life in a social media world. And for kids or tweens on the cusp of social media age, be sure to also check out Social Media Test Drive, a social media simulator for tweens, aimed at helping them deal with digital dilemmas.  Who Is in Your Online Community? (Grades K–2) TikTok is a global social network with videos from all over the world going viral. Help kids think critically about the ways that social media connects us with others, both near and far. My Media Choices (Grades 3–5) Social media algorithms are engineered to keep us glued to our screens. Help kids make informed choices about the media they're consuming and creating. My Social Media Life (Grades 6–8) Lots of middle schoolers use TikTok to connect with friends, share videos, and keep up with the latest trends. But it also comes with big-time distractions, social pressures, and more. Use this lesson to help your students navigate it all.  Filter Bubble Trouble (Grades 9–12) TikTok's algorithm is fine-tuned (maybe more than any other platform to date) to feed us more of what we (supposedly) want. Get your high schoolers thinking critically about how social media shapes our view of the world, and ourselves. As for my third grader, over dinner that night I playfully asked him if he had any other songs or memes to share. Then things got really weird. His little brother (4 years old) stared me dead in the eyes and said, "You're sus, Dada." As the saying goes, they grow up fast! 😂   Jeff

Random Acts of Kindness Foundation 2022 Coloring Contest

 

https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

Improving Well-Being Online

 

For Safer Internet Day this year, ConnectSafely spoke to parents, educators and young people across the country to find out what’s on their minds when it comes to online safety and wellbeing in 2022. We took the questions and concerns — and a few of our own — to experts in online safety, parenting, bullying prevention, security, and executives at popular apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Roblox. The results were some great conversations with a wealth of advice and insights. To spark discussion at home and school, each video includes discussion prompts. We hope you’ll find these resources helpful for encouraging positive, productive discussions about online wellness on Safer Internet Day and all year long.

https://saferinternetday.us/get-involved/

The Role of Parents in Preventing Bullying and Cyberbullying

By Sameer HindujaFebruary 1, 2022

Tags: bullyingcyberbullyingparentingpreventionteens

Parents and guardians have always had a powerful influence on the behaviors of children, while research is clear that peers tend to have more sway during the teenage years. That said, our new research published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies identifies that certain positive parenting practices have a strong effect on both school bullying and cyberbullying among middle- and high-schoolers in the US. These practices include a surplus of warmth, autonomy/support, and structure and a deficit of rejection, coercion, and chaos.

Read more:

The Role of Parents in Preventing Bullying and Cyberbullying - Cyberbullying Research Center 

https://cyberbullying.org/parenting-preventing-bullying-cyberbullying